June 27, 2012

It’s a sign of the times when you have Salma Hayek in the same movie as Bas Rutten. Kevin James stars in the upcoming big budget Hollywood flick Here Comes the Boom and it might just be the first mixed martial arts flick I want to check out. The trailer looks hilarious and actually quite promising.

The Frank Coraci movie was filmed with cooperation with the UFC and features quite a few of your favorite stars, including Joe Rogan, Jason Miller, and of course “El Guapo”, Bas Rutten. The only sad thing I found was when they mention “bottom level MMA”, they cut to a shot of poor Mayhem. The film opens on October 12th, and will definitely be getting my money opening night. Kevin James is looking pretty buff.

June 21, 2012

Coming off of his 90 second first KO of Heavyweight Pedro Rizzo, The Last Emperor, Fedor Emelianenko has announced his retrement. For many this comes as no surprise, as Fedor has hinted in the past the intention of moving on to other things. Fedor was and often is still considered the greatest pound for pound fighter of all time, and only recently has gone undefeated.

“I think it is time I quit. My family influenced my decision. My daughters are growing without me, that’s why it’s time to leave.”

He also mentions that no amount of money could change his decision, and that it really is about his children. He spoke with certainty about this choice, although he said that the future is in God’s hands, not his. If this truly is the end of Fedor’s glorious run, we at The Fight Nerd, have nothing but respect and admiration for his choice, and all he has contributed to making the sport that it is today.

Former Pride Heavyweight Champion took to the scales today to weigh in with his opponent, Former IFA Heavyweight Champion, Pedro Rizzo. The two heavyweights clash in the ring tomorrow in St. Petersburg, Russia in an M-1 Global event. Both fighters made weight, and looked to be in pretty good shape.

The fight may not have much effect on pound for pound rankings, or do much to aid The Last Emperor’s career at this point, however that hasn’t stopped fans –especially in Russia, from being excited to see the legend fight again. Although he has not announced retirement at this point, the level of opponent he is choosing to fight shows where the once undefeated fighter is at in his career. Should Fedor lose to the heavy handed Rizzo the future does not look too bright.

June 6, 2012

Marcus Kowal from MMANYTT had a chance to sit down with the former Strikeforce Women’s Featherweight Champion, Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos. Cyborg most recently took home a gold medal for the second time at the IBJJF World Jiu-Jitsu Championship. She talks a bit about her win, her life being single, and of course her return to Strikeforce.

Cyborg is currently serving a one year sentence after testing positive for a banned substance, stanozolol, after her match against Hiroko Yamanaka last December. She makes it clear she would like to return to the Women’s Featherweight Division against Ronda Rousey, the current Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight Champion. The two have been engaging in an online war of words against Cyborg, escalating since tweeting a photoshopped image of a defeated Gina Carano. Cyborg statess that Ronda wants her arm, but she wants her head. Of all the MMA fighters who have been caught abusing banned substances, Cyborg has perhaps received the harshest reaction from MMA fans who long suspected her of the abuse.

May 30, 2012

UFC heavyweight and all around lovable guy Pat Barry sat down with Full Contact Fighter’s Jimmy Smith to address some unwanted advice. After losing to Lavar Johnson via TKO at “UFC on Fox: Diaz vs Miller,” The Fight Doc posted a tweet concerning Barry being knocked out twice in one year, recommending that the former K1 kickboxer take a year off from fighting. As you could guess, Pat did not agree with the advice.

Pat makes the point that he was not actually KO’d by Johnson, but the fight was stopped. Watching the fight it is clear that Barry took some heavy punishment that night and was potentially on his way to a cage nap. His previous knockout loss to Cheick Kongo, however, was as brutal as it was spectacular. A good point he does make though is that although The Fight Doc may be a medical doctor, he has never looked at Barry himself –or his scans, which his own doctors say are clear. Perhaps a year is a bit long, but Barry has earned some R&R.

May 22, 2012

Even six years after his retirement from MMA, Genki Sudo remains a force to be reckoned with. His band World Order is back with the smooth new single, “Aquarius.” The new album, “2012” is due in stores June 20th. Copies of the Japanese album will come bundled with a Blu-ray/DVD which features the band’s videos.

Most recent MMA fans were reminded of Genki’s awesomeness with Tom Lawlor’s homage during his entrance to the UFC on Fuel TV: Korean Zombie vs. Poirer weigh ins. Genki remains active in MMA only as a reporter and commentator. Fans with good eyes may have spotted him cageside calling UFC 144 in Japan. Besides his career in music, Genki also has written eight books, runs an amateur baseball team and heads a successful Japanese wrestling team.

May 17, 2012

Things are starting to look up for K-1 fans. The K-1 Global Holdings Limited group has officially taken over the K-1 brand as of February, just before it was announced that former parent company Fighting and Entertainment Group declared bankruptcy. Now, K-1 has revealed that former K-1 World Max Champion Masato has taken the role of executive producer.

Masato’s participation will have a huge effect on the general public, as he was a well known and loved fighter. He’s also not too hard on the eyes. As executive producer, Masato expressed his desire to restore the honor and glory once associated with the brand, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. K-1 is set to kick off again with a huge event on May 27th in Madrid, Spain. The event features super stars like Badr Hari and Mirko Cro-cop, and has the potential to restore the kickboxing promotion’s once sterling reputation.

May 15, 2012

There is never a dull moment with Tom Lawlor. The UFC fighter is well known for his entrance and weigh in antics but at the UFC on Fuel TV weigh-ins he really topped himself. In an old school homage, Tom came in sporting the full Genki Sudo KFC helmet and face mask for a full-on nostalgia moment for old school K-1 Wold Max fans.

Tom Lawlor faces Jason MacDonald at “UFC on Fuel TV: Korean Zombie vs Poirier” later tonight. Lawlor is trying to bounce back from a submission loss against Chris Weidman at UFC 139. The bout is the first match on the main card and is happening live in Fairfax, Virginia.

April 5, 2012

In a surprising turn of events, Ron Kruck of HDNet caught of with UFC President Dana White, and captured some comments on the future of Former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Josh Barnett. Dana and Josh have never held anything back when discussing their feelings about the other, and have avidly campaigned their complete disdain for each other. Barnett was crowned the UFC Heavyweight Champion after defeating Randy Couture in 2002. He was immediately stripped of the title after testing positive for 3 banned substances, and began his dominant run in Pancrase and Pride in Japan.

“The way that Showtime wants to do it is when that fight finally happens, whoever wins it, they wanna do another fight on Showtime, so that guy would probably come to the UFC. We’ll see what happens, you know? Josh and I have been playing nice with each other for a little while, since he got into the UFC. It’s more than just, ‘Does he win? Does he do this?’ You gotta be able to come to terms with the guy and be able to deal with him. If he wins the fight, I can’t see why he wouldn’t come here, unless we weren’t able to make a deal with him.”

As soon as Strikeforce was acquired by Zuffa, the question about Barnett’s future became a hot topic. With Strikeforce’s top Heavyweight already in the UFC, a win over Comier would pretty much clear out the division. Now all eyes turn to May 19th , and wether or not things will play out as Dana says they will.

April 3, 2012

The guys over at MMADiehards had a chance to catch up to former UFC Heavyweight Champion and Pride stand out, Josh Barnett, about his participation in Strikeforce’s Heavyweight Grand Prix. “The War Master” talks about his game plan thus far, his opponents, and “taking them out of their comfort zone.” Josh speaks a bit about Rick Flair, why he’s no longer “The Baby Face Assassin”, and where his grappling stands in MMA.

“I think I’m the best grappler out there in MMA,” said Barnett. “Especially the heavyweight division. But you know, it’s not about talking about it, it’s about being about it, so I’ll just go out there and continue to prove such a thing. Back my words up.”

Josh is scheduled to face Daniel Cormier in the final bout of the Grand Prix on May 19th in San Jose, CA. Josh made it to the finals by quickly, dispatching Brett Rogers and Sergei Kharitonov, while Comier surprised the world with a first round knockout of Antonio Silva. The fight was originally expected to take place much earlier, but had to be delayed multiple times due to a hand injury Comier sustained.